Counter-controlling mechanism.



A W.v H. SHEPPARD. r'COUNLFB GONTBOLLING MBGHANISM.

APPLIUATION FILED DBO.18, 1907,

v Patented Mar. 23, 1909.

w. H. SHBPPARD..

COUNTER CONTROLLING MEGHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED DEG. 18, 1907. 91 6,042. v Patented Mar. 23, 1909.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2H' WILLIAM H. SHEPPARD, OFWORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS;

COUNTER?CONIROLLING' MECHANISM.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented March 23, '1909.

Application filed December 18, 1907. Serial No. 406,970.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Vl'TiLLIAM H. SHEP- PARD, a citizen of the United States, residing at Worcester, in the county of Worcester and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Counter-Controlling llfechanisin,

' of which the following is a specification.

This inventicnrelates to the feeding and counting or registerrn@r of articles such as envelops and 1s especially adapted for use on envelop printing machines and the like, but

is not imited thereto Such machines ordinarily are provided with counting or registering devices and with means for operating the saine to count the' envelops or other articles passing through the machine. The principal diiiiculty with such mechanisms is that usually they are connected so as to be operated every time the feeding or printing mechanism comlpletes ay cycle of ofierations and consequent y the counter will register the passage of an envelop or other article every time the machine operates, even if for any ,reason the operation is defective so that no envelop is fed through the machine.

The principal 4object of the present invention is to provide a simple, inexpensive, practicable and eilicient means for preventin the operation ofthe counter-operating mec `anism when the machine goes through a cycle of operations without feeding an envelop or the the counter-operating mechanism is so arranged that it can beheld in inoperative position during a cycle of operations and means is provided for holding it in inoperative osition whenever the machine operates wit iout feeding an` envelop.

The invention will be further described and further objects and .advantages of the same will be referred to herein after.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings which show one embodiment of .the invention and in which,

Figure 1 is a sidev elevation of an envelop machine showin how the saine may be a plied thereto. ig. 2 is an end elevation o a portion of the same. Fig. 3 is a side elevation of certain parts upon an enlarged scale,

and Fig. 4 is a similar view showing the parts l in adifferent osition.

Although tlieinvention is ca )able of ap, lication to many-other forms o machinery'- it is shown in the drawings as applied to an envelo machineinwwhich envelo s a are fed throng an ordinary form of mac ine involvike. In order to accomplish this result,

.article is fed through the madliinc` ing a series of feedc rolls 11, an impression cylinder 12,' and aplate cylinder 13 which is shown as provided with the usual inking devices 14 and the like, and delivered into a hopper 15. In this ty e of machine a frame 16 is mounted on the fiiame 17 of the envelop machine to carryA a counter 18, which may be of any ordinary or known type. As the construction of the counter is not a feature of this invention, it is notv shown herein in detail. It is usually `provided with an arm 19 operated from some convenient point on the envelop machine; in the present case it is shown as operated through a link 20, arm 21, i

which it operates, as the eccentric roll 24, can

beheld in inoperative position during a portion of the feeding or printing operation, so that the counter will not act. In order to hold the roll up in this way, a rod 25 is shown in the present instance as connected with the lever 22 and carrying the arm 21 so ythat here it constitutes a connection between these two elements. This rod is connected by a lever 26 with a reciprocating plunger 27. Obviously, each operation4 of the counter will result in reciprocatin01 this plunger but if the plunger is prevented from 'moving in one direction, the lever 22 will be prevented from moving in one direction and the eccentric roll' 24 may be held u away from the eccentric 23 when the atter rotates, consed quently the parts25, 26 and 27 constitute means for disconnecting thecounter from the feeding means and for Y stopping the operation of the counter. For accomplish; ing-this pur ose, the plunger is made to reciprocate t rough an opening 30 in a plate 31 mounted in any convenient position on lthe machine and a feeler 82 1s movably mounted on the machine 'and' is provided with an end or counter-weight 33 adaptednormally to hold the feeler in a certain position by gravity and also adapted tocover the o ening 30 when the feeler is held in that position. when the weight 33 is allowed -to move over the. opening 30, the end ,of the feeler will project upwardl into a groove 34 in onenf the feed rolls. his is the position whichi-tlu, parts occupy when no envelo This The feeler is soY constructed that-1.@

obviously prevents the counter operating device from working when the machine is operated without feeding an envelop or other article.

Now when an envelop a, is machine, it moves along the surface of the feed'rollers and covers the groove 34 so as to hold the end of the feeler down in a groove 35 on .aroller 36 which coperates with the feed roll 11. This holds the counter-weight 33 of the feelerup in the position shown in Fig. 4 against a sto 37v so as to uncover the opening 30 and a low the plunger 27 to operate in -a normal mannner. i

In order to avoid the direct impact of the endof the feeler against the envelop or other the paper, t

article beingx "I feeler to push the feeler into the groove 35. "After/,the feeler is once moved, the envelop will keep it in that position without any danger of tearing or mutilating it. When the device operates with no envelo in position, of course the abutment 40'v w temporarily force the feeler out away from the opening 30 but it will immediately drop back again before the time for the counter-operating mechanism to act and will prevent the operation thereof.

While I have illustrated the invention as applied to a particular kind of a machine :ind

have shown only one embodiment of 'he invention, I am aware that it is applicables to many similar types of machines and that it may be embodie in many other forms without departing from the scope of this invention as expressed in the claims. v

Havin thus fully described the invention,

' what I c aim-is:-

y 1. The combination with a vpaperfeeding means, a .counter therefor, and means 'connected with the feeding means vfor operating thefcounter at each feeding operation, of

means for disconnecting the counter from the feeding means, and independent means controlled by the articles being fed for operating the disconnecting means and preventing the operation of the counter operating means when the feeding means operates without feedin an article therethrough.

2. he combination with a paper feeding means, of a counter, means operated positively by the paper feeding means for o erating the counter a `predetermined num er of times foreach. revolution, means connected with said last named means and normally fed through the operated thereby at each operation thereofl for disconnecting it from the feeding means, and means controlled by the feeding means when held inoperative in onel position for preventing the operation of said disconnectlng mean-s, said preventing means being adapted to be held out of operative position by an article being fed through the feeding means.

3. The combination with a paper feeding means comprising feed rolls for the reception of an article to be fed, of an eccentric fixed to a rotating part of the paper feeding means, a lever adapted to be operated by said eccentric, a counter connected with said lever and operated thereby, means movable to a position to hold said lever away from the eccentric so as tov prevent the operation of the counter, and means controlled by the passage of an article between saidv rolls for retaining said holding means in said position when an article is being fed between the rolls.

4. A feeding machine having means for controlling the registration of its operations comprising a pivoted feeler, and a constantly rotating feed roll having a circumferential groove which said feeler is adapted to enter, said groove having an abutment across it.

5. A feedingmachine having a counter operating device operated by said feeding machine, a vrod longitudinally reciprocable thereby, and means controlled by the presence in the feedingmachine of an article to be fed for preventing said rod from operating.

6. The combination with a feeding mechanism, a counter' therefor, and means forA opperating the counter at each feeding operation, 1saidl feeding mechanism comprisinga feed roll having a groove extending part way around the same and provided with an abutment extending across the groove and having its outer surface co-incident with the surface of said feed roll,'of a feeler mounted to engage said abutment and to move normally into said groove as the feed roll rotates andto be held out of the' groove by an article being fed .through the machine, and means controlled'by said f eeler for preventing the opert ation of the counter-operating means when the feeler'projects into said groove.

7. The combination with. a feeding mechanism, a counter therefor, and means for operating the counter at each feeding operation, said feeding mechanism comprising a constantly rotating feed roll having a groove eX'- tending part way around the same, of a feeler mounted to move normally into said groove as the feed roll rotates and to be held out of the groove by -an article being fed through the machine, a roll contacting with said feeding roll and having a continuous circumferential groove, the first named roll having means for moving the feeler out of the roove at each revolution and means control ed by saidfeeler for preventing the operation of the {munter-operating means when the feeler pro- ]ects into the first named groove.

8. The combination w ith a feeding mechanism, a counter therefor, and means controlled by the feeding mechanism for operating the counter, vsaid feeding mechanism comprising a feed roll having a roove, of a feeler mounted to move normal y into said groove as the feed roll rotates, and means controlled' b said feeler for preventing the operation o the counter-operating vmeans when the feeler projects into said groove, said last namedqneans comprising a link conmeans, and a rod connected with said adapted to engage thefeeler and be stopped vthereby when the feeler is in the groove in the feed roll.

9. The combination with a feeding mechanism, and a counter operating means, said feeding means comprising a feed roll having a groove therein, of a feeler adapted to proect into said groove vvhenan article is not eing fed by the machine and to be held out of the roove by such an article, and means controlIed -b said feeler for preventing the operationI o the counter-operating"means when the feeler projects into the groove, said last named means comprising a reciprocating rod, and means for connecting said rod v. ith the counter-operating mechanism, said rod being normally shifted at each motion-thereof past the feeler and the feeler being in position to stop the rod and hold the counteroperating mechanism in inoperative position when the feeler extends into said groove.

10. An envelop feedin machine having a feed roller provided Vwit a circumferential roove, and an abutment across said groove imiting and defining the ends thereof, a counter operating device, and means operated by the abutment for controlling the counter-operating device.

11. The combination With a feeding mechnk and anism, and a counter operating means, of means connected with the counter operating 4means for holdin the latter in inoperative position during t e feeding operation provided no article is fed through the machine, said means comprising a movable rod, and a feeler adapted to move into position at the end of the rod-for preventing the motion of said rod when the machine operates without feeding anlarticle.

12. A feeding machine having means for controlling the `registration of its operationsv comprising a pivoted feeler, a feed roll having a groove Which said feeler is adapted to enter, and a counter-operatin device.c0mprising a sliding rod, said feeler aving means for obstructing lthe path, and limiting the motion of said rod to prevent the counter-operating device from operating. v

13. In a machine for feeding articles, the combination of a feeding means a pivoted feeler located in position toproject into the path of the articles as they are fed, and a sliding rod, said feeler having means for obstructing the'rod and preventing its sliding motion beyond a certain point, when the feeding means operates uithout feeding an article.

14. In a machine for feeding articles, the combination of a feeding means, a movably mounted feeler, means for moving the feeler at each feeding operation, and a reciprocat-y ing rod movable across the path of the feeler, whereby when the feeler is in a certain position it v. ill obstruct the reciprocation of the rod.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand, in the presence of two subscribing Witnesses.

WM. H. SHE'PPARD.

Witnesses l l LoUrs W. SOUTHGATE, C. FonREsT WissoM. 

